With two jobs and going to school full time, Erin Epp approaches the conclusion of her undergraduate education. With the end in sight, she will finish out the semester strong and a year early as well, having taken additional credits in high school.
Erin is a home-grown Nebraskan, living in Omaha all her life. She went to Mercy High School, which is just down the street from the College of Business Administration. When advancing to the next stage in her academic pathway, she credits the CBA’s reputation as a business school and location that drove the selection of UNO.
Why business though? To answer, Erin reflects on the one theme that has seemed to follow her through her early academic and athletic careers, and that is leadership. She appreciates the fellowship of teamwork and is confident taking the lead position which plays naturally into a concentration in management and leadership. Coupled with a penchant for digital marketing and social media, Erin enjoys creatively grabbing people’s attention and engaging with them.
Though she works two jobs and goes to school full time, Erin downplays this juggling act as she has learned how to schedule around each commitment as well as accommodating for social time too. She is a waitress at a local restaurant and an intern at Werner. It was during the CBA Career Fair she learned of the opportunity and fostered a relationship with the company after being accepted to their program. Once she graduates, she intends on going full time with Werner.
The Werner internship is structured much like a class with attendees from all over the Midwest, Erin explains. Members are broken up into groups with similar fields of study. Erin is grouped with others having a management and marketing focus. She is currently working with the recruiting department. Though given the opportunity to shadow other departments, Erin enjoys where she is and wants to grow with that space.
When asked about her experience with the CBA, Erin is quick to mention the professors, including a few stand outs from her time. Mr. Ed Cochran is the first.
“His enthusiasm and energy for the subjects he teaches grabs your attention and keeps it,” she says.
A close second is Dr. Shannon Cummins of the professional selling class. Erin notes she uses the techniques she learned in that class – public speaking and customer interaction – to this day in her current position.
And it’s not just the CBA faculty that have contributed to her satisfaction with her time spent in the college. Erin brings up the CAB Lab as one of those occasions where she could volunteer to be a part of research on a data gathering level. These unique opportunities to participate in such studies are not so readily available to a student elsewhere.
Erin’s goals are to eventually return to get her masters and then proceed to enter a doctoral program. Her ultimate ambition is to teach. It was something she always wanted to do. As for the subject, she’s undecided at the moment and isn’t in a rush to figure it out.
Currently she is content living with her two best friends and their adopted puppy who just turned a year old. She finds time to decompress through exercise, bicycling as her chose form. Dashing around the local recreational spots of Chalco and Zorinsky gives a much-needed balance to the hustle and bustle of work and school. When asked what advice she could give to an incoming student, Erin had this to say.
“Try to stay on top of homework and not putting it to the last minute. Create some type of plan or schedule. Time management is key. Try to use the resources that are available; professors, tutors, the various labs that are open to help.”